Cognitive dimensions of predator responses to imperfect mimicry?
Correspondence: (Login to view email address)
- Queen Mary University of London
- University of Sussex
This manuscript is a preprint. A published version is available at:
10.1371/journal.pbio.0050339 (Peer Reviewed) Published in PLoS Biol 5(12): e339- Document Type:
- Manuscript
- Date:
- Received 26 October 2007 11:51 UTC; Posted 26 October 2007
- Subjects:
- Ecology, Neuroscience
- Abstract:
Many palatable insects, for example hoverflies, deter predators by mimicking well-defended insects such as wasps. However, for human observers, these flies often seem to be little better than caricatures of wasps – their visual appearance and behaviour are easily distinguishable. This imperfect mimicry baffles evolutionary biologists, because one might expect natural selection to do a more thorough job. Here we discuss two types of cognitive processes that might explain why mimics distinguishable mimics might enjoy increased protection from predation. Speed accuracy tradeoffs in predator decision making might give imperfect mimics sufficient time to escape, and predators under time constraint might avoid time-consuming discriminations between well-defended models and inaccurate edible mimics, and instead adopt a “safety first” policy of avoiding insects with similar appearance. Categorization of prey types by predators could mean that wholly dissimilar mimics may be protected, provided they share some common property with noxious prey.
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Additional information
- License:
- This document is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
- How to cite this document:
-
Chittka, Lars and Osorio, Daniel. Cognitive dimensions of predator responses to imperfect mimicry?. Available from Nature Precedings <http://hdl.handle.net/10101/npre.2007.1258.1> (2007)
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